L’girra nods, “Ok, I’m there, dude. Just tell me when.” He gives Allen a sturdy pat on the back.
As he leaves, Allen says, “Cool. Thanks again! I’ll come by later and tell ya what’s up.”
L’girra and Gul walk to the Mustang.
But then, Gul looks at L’girra suspiciously.
L’girra notices, and puzzled, he asks quickly, “What?”
Gul continues his suspicious eyes.
“What?!” L’girra exclaims. “I bought those tickets! I didn’t grab ‘em out of thin air.’
Satisfied, Gul responds, “Ok. Thank you.” He smiles.
Later, as they sit themselves down at the bar at Trace, Katy hands each of them a menu saying, “How are you guys doin’?”
“Pretty good, thanks,” L’girra replies, and then he adds, “Hey, Katy, this is my buddy, Smiley.”
Katy reaches out her hand, and they greet each other. “Nice to meet you, Smiley,” she says warmly.
“It is a wonderful pleasure to meet you, Katy,” Gul replies with a big smile. Captivated by her, he quickly says, “Oh, my God, you are so beautiful.”
L’girra shakes his head and shoves Gul in the shoulder, saying, “He’s a sly dog, isn’t he?”
As always, taking the compliment in stride, Katy says kindly, “Well, thank you very much, Smiley. That’s nice of you to say.” Then, she adds, “Well, how about a drink, guys?”
Glancing at Gul, L’girra waits for him to respond.
“Please,” Gul says, “an iced tea for me.”
“Iced tea it is,” Katy says with a nod. She turns to L’girra. “And a Stubborn Mule for you?”
L’girra shakes his head. “Nah, I think I’ve had enough of that. And I’ve been a stubborn mule myself for too long. How about something lighter, with less of a kick? Uh, and could ya give me a water too?”
“Sure. I can get ya something lighter and that water,” Katy answers. Tapping her hand on the bar, she says, “Comin’ up.”
L’girra turns to Gul. Referring back to their conversation they had as they walked into the restaurant, he says in disbelief, “So, say that again - what you told me outside. They gave you a cell phone? When did they do that?”
“Yes,” Gul says smiling. “How do you say, uh…it is government issue. Before you brought me back, an officer gave it to me. He reported to General Parsin. And I have General Parsin’s office number in it.”
“You have a line to the General? Unbelievable.” L’girra smiles and shakes his head.
Gul grins, “Yes, well, so now I have more than one connection up high.”
L’girra laughs out loud, “You’re such a punk. I don’t know how you can get so lucky.”
“Oh, by the way,” Gul adds casually, “…you are on some kind of Most Wanted List.”
“What?!” L’girra exclaims.
“They could not find this person you posed as - this Major Thom from Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance. I told them I was just taking your word for who you said you were.” Gul looks up at the television above the bar, and then nonchalantly adds, “So, I am not at fault.”
“Gee, thanks for sticking up for me,” L’girra says sarcastically, but taking it lightly. “Anytime you need a favor, just delete my number from your phone.”
“Oh, right!” Gul takes the phone out of his pocket. He says, with a big smile, “This is a miraculous phone! I speak, and it dials. Now, what is your number?”
L’girra frowns, but then acquiesces. “8-5-8,” he begins to say. However, he remembers something, “Hey, wait a minute. I gotta ask you before I forget.” After glancing around, he lowers his voice slightly and says, “So, you said that when Gemini is gone, I lose my abilities. Is that right?”
Adjusting his voice, Gul answers, “That is correct, my friend. It will gradually happen, but it will happen. And then your more prominent human nature will take over - meaning, you will begin to grow old. It is a happy yet sorrowful truth. It is as if with Gemini gone, you are no longer fully yourself, and your angelic nature fades. In a way, you are dependent on each other, and he is indeed your twin, in both flesh and spirit.”
L’girra listens, taking in Gul’s words. Then, he says somberly, “Well, I guess it’s strange then. We may need each other, but on the other hand,” he slowly shakes his head, “…we’re so against each other. And even though we’re identical twins, we may look alike, but we’re so un-alike - but not just in the color of our hair. If anyone just spends a couple of minutes with us together - when we’re not trying to kill each other - they’ll immediately realize the difference.”
Gul nods. “And think of it,” he says, “Your lives are so mysterious, but with purpose so grand. Are they not? You are two beings given the power of angels, but you must still struggle with the failings and temptations of your own humanity.”
Gul’s observation is profound and L’girra has to agree. “You know you’re right. And because of our abilities, when we go wrong, the effects are so much more amplified and the damage so much more catastrophic.” L’girra thinks for a moment, and then says, “But you know, I’m starting to believe that Gemini didn’t start out as an evil person. I think both he and I have the potential within us to just go completely the wrong way…get taken by the desire for absolute power and control. Just like anyone.”
“Yes,” Gul responds. “So you see, with the existence of you and your brother,” he says, with a gleam in his eyes and a smile on his face, “it is easy to see that God is such an amazing storyteller of life…creating wonderful characters in this universe beyond all imagination. We are all beings with many personalities, many abilities. Our lives create so many possible tales and there are so many ways our stories can unfold. What we see may not make sense, while we live it, but it will make sense, when the story ends.”
Nodding, L’girra agrees again. Grinning, he asks, “How did you get so profound, Smiley?”
Katy returns with their drinks and comments, “It’s such a gorgeous day today, isn’t it? Finally, huh? All that rain finally gone.”
L’girra answers, “Yeah, beautiful. And that storm just seemed to somehow blow away and disappear.”
Gul glances at L’girra, knowingly.
Suddenly, Katy blurts, “Hey! The other day when we were talking about the Thanksgiving game with the 49ers, a guy sat right behind you. There was something about him that I couldn’t figure out. It wasn’t easy to notice because he was wearing sunglasses and a cap.”
“Yeah?” L’girra responds.
“Then, it finally hit me. He looked just like you!” Katy says excitedly. “I swear, if you dyed your hair blond and shaved your face, you’d look just like this guy.”
“Whoa, really?” L’girra says, as his thoughts go to Gemini. Then, he says to himself, So, that’s how he found out about Paige and picked her as the fifth victim. To Katy, he asks, “That was the time we were talking about your tickets, right? And about Paige going to visit her family in Frisco?”
“Yeah, we were. This guy could have been your secret twin. Maybe if he comes back, I’ll ask to take his picture and show ya. You don’t have any brothers, right?”
“I can’t say that I do,” L’girra answers, intending the double meaning. “But you never know…I was adopted.” Intentionally changing the subject, L’girra then asks, “Hey, where’s your sister? How’s Kim doin’?” He turns to Gul and explains, “Katy and Kim are twins.”
Gul nods inquisitively.
“She’s fine,” Katy answers. “She moved out from my apartment. She got a really, really good job up north.”
“Well, that’s good,” L’girra says. “But you’ve gotta miss her, huh? And that booming laugh, who can’t miss that, right?”
Katy chuckles, “Yeah, we’re so the same. But we’re so different, you know?” Katy pauses. “One of the things I really miss is when we used to just stay up late at night and talk and talk. Just drink a glass of wine or something and just talk the night away. I really
miss that.”
L’girra nods.
“And now that she’s moved out, I really miss having her around. It’s like something I didn’t know I needed, but when it’s gone, it’s like I’ve lost something a part of me…you know?”
L’girra looks into Katy’s eyes, understanding clearly what she says. Finally, he gives a slight nod and answers, “Yeah.” Then, looking down, he adds quietly, “…yeah.”
From a table, a customer calls Katy, and she excuses herself from L’girra and Gul.
After Katy leaves, L’girra starts thinking about his brother. He wishes that the course of their lives would have been different, but he believes that what has happened was intended. Although, it has led to loosing a part of himself that he may never truly understand. Then, raising his glass of water, instead of raising his beer, he looks at Gul and proposes a toast, “Well then, Smiley, here’s to becoming human.”
They toast.
Setting down his glass, L’girra looks up at the TV screen. Under his breath he complains, “Crap, now I gotta get a job.”
A mug shot of Sik flashes on the TV screen, and then afterwards, a photo of Paige.
Katy returns, glancing up with them at the TV. “I’m so happy that guy let Paige go,” she says, “We were all just dying-concerned about her.” Looking at L’girra, Katy asks, “Did you know about Paige?”
Somberly, L’girra nods.
“I visited her last night, and I just remembered, she wanted me to tell you something,” Katy says. “She said she really needed to talk to you.”
Concerned, Gul looks at L’girra. He is a bit cautious of others knowing the true nature of his friend.
Calmly, L’girra asks, “Really? Do you know what for?”
“No. She didn’t say.”
“Well, it’s probably nothin’,” L’girra says trying to brush off the idea, “Maybe she needs a favor or something. No problem, I might just see her at her church tomorrow.”
After lunch, as the two men walk to L’girra’s Mustang, Gul asks, “What will you do? What will you tell Paige?”
Hopping into the car, L’girra starts the engine. He thinks for a moment, and then, turning to Gul, he responds, “Well, bottom line, Smiley, either I erase her memory, or I tell her everything.”
Surprised, Gul asks, “You can change her memory?”
“I just rewrite the pathways in her mind. For me - I’m sad to say - it’s as easy as that.” While L’girra looks behind, preparing to back up the car, he reveals, “But I’m not even sure if that’s what I should do, or if that’s the right thing to do.”
L’girra leaves the parking lot and rides out into the street. Soon, he adds, “But, man, right now…I’m just happy she’s fine.”
* * * * * * *
Samuel Ian Kessian slowly rises from the side of his bed and walks to face the bars of his holding cell.
Standing motionless, he stares across the empty hallway and remembers the words L’girra spoke to him. Even though he believed L’girra’s heart-felt apology, he didn’t want to give L’girra either any satisfaction of an acknowledgement of the apology or any sign to show whether he accepted it.
The pain and anger he feels still runs deep.
Then, above him, Sik notices movement.
From a vent in the ceiling, the pitch-black particles of the dark entity begin to invade into the space of the hallway.
Sik takes a step back, unsure of how to react and unsure of whether he should continue to welcome the presence of the entity. He has been willing to do the bidding of the entity, but has never been willing to kill any of the women he abducted. In truth, he did not take the lives of either the first or second female victims. Moreover, with all five victims, Gemini gave him assurance he would not be directly responsible for their deaths, in order to spare Sik from a greater cost to his conscience and soul.
Even though Sik has been under the wiles of the entity, it was Gemini who gained Sik’s trust. As long as Sik saw Gemini antagonize L’girra, and give him pain, he was willing to continue to perform the deeds both the entity and Gemini told him to do. As he accomplished them, he waited for the right moment to exact his own revenge on L’girra.
Now while Sik sees the dark entity approach, although revenge and justice are still the roots of his motivation, and that he may still have his day, L’girra’s apology has affected him and caused him to question his resolve.
Nevertheless, the entity decides for him. It comes closer, and then begins to enclose him within its black smoke. Wishing to prepare Sik for what is to come, it speaks to him of Gemini’s demise, reveals its future intentions, and promises him his justice.
Moments later, the entity uncovers Sik, lifts itself up to the ceiling, and starts to leave, in the very same manner it arrived.
After hearing of Gemini’s death, Sik isn’t sure of what to allow himself to feel. He fully trusted Gemini and admired him because of his strategic mind and his calm, deliberate steadfastness to his plans. Neither considered the other as a friend, because both kept their distances. However, Sik saw him as someone to emulate.
Sik decides to do something for the sake of Gemini’s memory. But it is not something that will lead him to correct his path; it is something to take him further into darkness. Accepting for now the plans of the entity, Sik tilts his head up and watches with steely eyes, as its last particles creep into the vent. With quiet words, Sik says, “Justice or no, I can still learn from the entity how to trick, deceive, and play the game…” Looking back down and staring into the space in front of him, he finishes his words, in silent resolve, “…like Gemini.”
After slithering its way through the air ducts of the building, the dark entity exits through the roof. Believing that Gemini has failed, it seeks an alternate means to its end. Quickly, it dashes up into the air. With tremendous speed, it traverses the expanse of the sky high above, and then, an instant later, it begins to traverse the expanse of time.
In search for an accomplice, for someone to break and be its slave, and for someone to seduce with its guile, it emerges about two thousand years in the past, knowing precisely whom it seeks.
With the dying sun drenching the sky in red, the dark entity crosses the desert sand, the dry valleys, and the sparsely populated hills to reach the stone walls of the city of Jerusalem. Suddenly, it halts, unable go further.
Unseen, a powerful angel - one of many names, the one who appeared to L’girra as Pouvoir - staves off the dark entity, keeping it away from Jerusalem, and away from a miracle that will soon take place.
The entity retreats from its position high above. Then, it sees a rider on a red roan horse, already sprinting hastily through the valley and into the desert. It is this rider whom the entity seeks.
She is Nissa, L’girra’s bar-atri. Strapped around her neck by a slender leather twine is a small vial, with a precious, dark liquid inside. With little time remaining, she needs to meet L’girra and deliver this vial.
L’girra, not yet given any of his powers, is much further away on his horse, dashing over a desert plateau.
Without losing an instant, the dark entity plunges down and away, cutting briskly through the wind to intercept Nissa. Moments later, it reaches her and hovers directly above, matching her speed.
Far behind them, a Roman Decurion - Gemini - and a soldier under his command race through the gates of Jerusalem, atop their horses, in chase of Nissa. As they split through and drive aside the people walking along the narrow road, Gemini trains his dispassionate eyes out into the distance. With the pounding hoofs of his steed beating in his ears, he soon reaches and hastens past a hill, upon which three crosses shadow the earth beneath.
Above Nissa, the dark entity suddenly lunges down and envelops both her and her horse.
Blinded and stunned, the horse quickly halts, kicking up dust and dirt. Frightened, it immediately rears up, throwing Nissa from its back.
Covered in darkness, Nissa cannot prepare herself for the crash into the grou
nd. As she falls backward, her head slams against the solid earth. Dazed, Nissa tries, with feebly flailing arms, to push the cloud of entity away from her.
The dark entity seizes the moment. As Nissa’s arms wearily fall to her side, and her mind starts to fade and weaken, the entity connects with her thoughts, in search of fissures in her past, cracks of pain or regret, flaws in her personality, or anything it can pry into and use to its advantage.
In confusion, Nissa doesn’t know what entraps her, but she starts to feel as if something is entering her mind. Her failing will desperately attempts to resist the invading entity; however, it is of little affect.
Finding something, the entity starts its way into the recesses of Nissa’s mind. It uses its guile to begin to influence her and tempt her.
Within moments, Nissa can do nothing but submit to the wiles of her attacker. There is pain in her past that she has never let go.
Quickly, the dark entity begins to plant seeds of regret, distrust, and fear.
Seeking to affect and to steer the past, the entity attempts to recreate and recast the present; and to this end, Nissa will be its means.
* * * * * * *
It is Sunday, and from his lap, L’girra picks up his Bible - the one he told Preacher Man he already had. Then, he and Gul get out of the Mustang, walk through the parking lot, and head to the church entrance.
With his eyes looking ahead, L’girra informs Gul, “I got a call from Dancy.” After pausing, he says, “Someone killed her dad. She’s freaked out. I’ll have to visit her later.”
Concerned, Gul says turning to him, “Oh, no. Her heart must be completely broken.”
L’girra stops. Looking down, he adds, “I don’t know if this happened because I know Dancy - since she’s connected to me - or if it’s just coincidence. Whatever or whoever it was sucked out all of his blood.”
Gul thought for a moment then asked, “Did this happen to the other victims of Samuel?”
“I don’t know. The ones I saved, I don’t know what happened to them afterwards. I just figured they’d be fine, and the police would end up taking care of them.” L’girra tilts his head up. While gazing into the sky, he says somberly, “Hmm, my spidey-sense is telling me that all this is really odd.” Slowly, he looks back at Gul.
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